Thursday 26 February 2009

Listen online (1 hr, 02 mins)

Lecture description

In many ways the universe seems to be surprisingly well constructed for our own existence: it seems to be ‘intelligently designed’. Cosmologists and physicists are tracing this illusion of intelligent design to principles which parallel those of Darwinian evolution. Just as there is a vast landscape of biological designs, our best theories of physics imply an equally vast landscape of universe designs. String theory provides an analogue of DNA for the universe and modern cosmology makes use of a principle of mutation that creates a tremendously large multiverse. A tiny fraction of the multiverse is suitable for life, and it is no surprise that that’s where life is found.

Biography of Professor Leonard Susskind

Felix Bloch Professor of Theoretical Physics, Stanford University

Professor Susskind is Felix Bloch Professor of Theoretical Physics at Stanford University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of two popular science books, The Cosmic Landscape and The Black Hole War.